DotA as it should be
Heroes of Newerth (hereby known as HoN), is a clone of the popular Warcraft 3 custom map DotA, a map that already has spawned off numerous games, including League of Legends and Demigod. For those of you who have played DotA, don't worry about the tutorial, as you will undoubtedly feel right at home in HoN, as the games are very semilar, down to level design and playable heroes. For those of you who haven't, the purpose of HoN is to work together with your team (usually consisting of five players, including yourself) to ultimately destroy the opposing teams main base building, while keeping them from destroying yours. At the start of each game you choose a hero from the pool of over 60 available heroes, each with it's unique set of skills and abilities, which you then have to level up and purchase items for in order to conquer the other team. There is no persistency a la Call of Duty, your hero level will be reset to 1 each time you start a new game, with each game being about 40-60 minutes long.
Even though HoN is an obvious clone of DotA, it improves on DotA in a lot of areas. For starters, since HoN is a standalone game and not a custom map of another game, the developers have been able to improve on areas that the makers of DotA simply couldn't due to the closed-in nature of making a custom map. HoN features a matchmaking system, a ranking ladder, stat tracking (including tracking which players who are prone to leave games prematurely - and ban them from your games), and built in voice chat. The network code is also improved upon, with servers being provided for you, so you don't have to rely on another player to host the game, and if your internet connection is unstable at time - don't worry, because if you get disconnected, you are able to reconnect for the next 5 minutes.
HoN is purely multiplayer, though it provides an interactive tutorial for new players which includes basic controls and movement up to some pro tips on how and when to attack monsters from the opposing team. The in-game item shop also features a tab called "Recommended", where you will find the items most suitable to the hero you are playing. That being said, HoN is a hard game to master and the online community is harsh place to learn, and the game features no moderation on players who talk dirty or insult you, just the ability to mute them. The best way to experience this game is to play with someone who is already familiar with HoN or DotA, and have them guide you through the intricacies of the game.
HoN also features a graphical compared to DotA, which uses the content of Warcraft 3. The visual style of HoN is similar to DotA though, with a focus on bright colors instead of gritty realism. The menus and presentation of the game is where HoN excels in the visual department though, as the menus are both pretty and functional.
Overall, HoN is a fun game, though a bit difficult to get into without guidance. The lack of a single player portion might scare some people away, but unless you are horrified at the very thought of playing with and against other people online, that shouldn't keep you away from this game. The servers are generally stable, though there have been some problems with the matchmaking not working properly after the game launched from beta. The promise of consistent patching and future free content makes this game an investment and not just a straight up purchase, and if you enjoy the team based fighting that HoN provides, you are sure to enjoy this game for a long time.